Speculation: Which third line center (3C) would you prefer?

[Schooner Guy]

I've always been curious who the "2nd" turned out to be. Wasn't it Subban?

Good question! Either Subban (2007) or Kristo (2008). Ryder scored 30 goals the year Subban was drafted so maybe it was Kristo. Although it seemed like the Ryder+Halak+2nd proposals were going on for multiple years so it could have been both Subban and Kristo.

The remastered version of that proposal is now Drouin, Harris and a 2nd.

 

[Habs Halifax]

It’s rumoured that Czikas is already signed, they just haven’t announced it yet, we’ll see:

The funny part is teams know how much cap space he has. If Lou is trying to make a trade, his cap space is not an issue with the team he is trading with. He's probably in on Taraskenko and wants retention. If I was the Blues, I'd say sure... what you giving me in value for that retention on top of our agreed deal?

 

[Habs10Habs]

I'm very curious what Cizikas would get. Difficult to guess on that one

Your guess is as good as mine HH. My guess is with him being 30 or 31. He's gonna want term. Salary wise I don't know, but I could see him asking for around 4 yrs.

 

[Habs10Habs]

Good question! Either Subban (2007) or Kristo (2008). Ryder scored 30 goals the year Subban was drafted so maybe it was Kristo. Although it seemed like the Ryder+Halak+2nd proposals were going on for multiple years so it could have been both Subban and Kristo.

The remastered version of that proposal is now Drouin, Harris and a 2nd.

Thanks I forgot Kristo was as 2nd rd pick the year after Subban. Haha yes, for as long as I can remember that was a popular proposal. If it was Ryder+Halak+Subban. I don't think opposing teams fans would have laughed at it quite like they did.

Oh nice, I haven't seen that one yet.

 

[jackeymoon]

I think KKs a 3rd liner. Like Eller with more talent and less heart

 

[Habs Halifax]

I think KKs a 3rd liner. Like Eller with more talent and less heart

Eller had zero NHL games when he was the same age as what KK is today. That's not a fair comparison

 

[Habs Icing]

We have many guys who can play 3rd line center.... Not so much 2nd line center. get Hertl from SJ. That would solve the problem. OR Dubois from Winnipeg.

Who can play 3rd line center? Evans? He barely played 4th line center last year. Perrault? Hasn't played center in years. Poehling? The last time he played center was in the A. KK? He's the only one and you'll have to brace yourself because of the backlash coming your way. The Habs need to sign or trade for a 2nd or 3rd line center

 

[Habs10Habs]

I think KKs a 3rd liner. Like Eller with more talent and less heart

It's so hard to judge with KK. He shows spurts where he can be a top 6 player. There were times this season where I thought he even looked better than Suzuki. Followed by other times where he looked like a 1st yr player.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Who can play 3rd line center? Evans? He barely played 4th line center last year. Perrault? Hasn't played center in years. Poehling? The last time he played center was in the A. KK? He's the only one and you'll have to brace yourself because of the backlash coming your way. The Habs need to sign or trade for a 2nd or 3rd line center

Evans played 15:32 average min's in the last playoffs and you won't get a better test of his abilities than that. What's that to you? 3rd line or 4th line minutes?

51% corsi with 62% of defensive zone starts. Very impressive but he also got defensive responsible wingers as well.

He's ready for 3C minutes IMO. However, we all agree that we need more center insurance.

 

[Habs10Habs]

Who can play 3rd line center? Evans? He barely played 4th line center last year. Perrault? Hasn't played center in years. Poehling? The last time he played center was in the A. KK? He's the only one and you'll have to brace yourself because of the backlash coming your way. The Habs need to trade or sign a 2nd or 3rd line center

I think we'd be putting too much pressure on Evans if we started him as our 3rd line C. Most of the season a lot of us were begging Bergy to bring in a veteran 4th line C, since Evans wasn't cutting it. Add in his concussion history here as well. I can't see any of our other Centers being a good 3rd line fit, on a full time basis.

Agreed, IMO if they decide KK is their 2nd line C, they need to obtain someone for the 3rd C role. Hell even if they trade KK in a package for a 1st or 2nd line C. They'll need to obtain a 3rd line C.

 

[CHfan1]

Evans played 15:32 average min's in the last playoffs and you won't get a better test of his abilities than that. What's that to you? 3rd line or 4th line minutes?

51% corsi with 62% of defensive zone starts. Very impressive but he also got defensive responsible wingers as well.

He's ready for 3C minutes IMO.

To note though, his games where he had the most time on ice was playing as a winger with Danault and Gallagher.

 

[Schwang]

Dvorak is better on faceoffs percentage wise than Danault. How did he not go in the first round with ohl stats like that?

 

[Habs Halifax]

To note though, his games where he had the most time on ice was playing as a winger with Danault and Gallagher.

Lowest was in game 1 against the Leafs. Against Tampa, he played 16:46 in game 4 and 13:31 in game 5. Highest was 17 min+ when he was playing with Danault and Gallagher.

The line that he ended up on was with Byron and Lehkonen. Same line they used down the stretch when we had so many injuries.

If you can trust him for 13 and 16 min's against Tampa in the finals, he's ready for 3C IMO.

 

[Habs10Habs]

Lowest was in game 1 against the Leafs. Against Tampa, he played 16:46 in game 4 and 13:31 in game 5. Highest was 17 min+ when he was playing with Danault and Gallagher.

The line that he ended up on was with Byron and Lehkonen. Same line they used down the stretch when we had so many injuries.

If you can trust him for 13 and 16 min's against Tampa in the finals, he's ready for 3C IMO.

Not that I'm positive he can't be trusted. One series is just too small of a time frame IMO to make such a decision. Which is why I want to add someone cheap like Bozak. If Evans proves he's ready. It's quite easy to give him the 3rd C. If not, Bozak is there until he is ready.

 

[CHfan1]

Lowest was in game 1 against the Leafs. Against Tampa, he played 16:46 in game 4 and 13:31 in game 5. Highest was 17 min+ when he was playing with Danault and Gallagher.

The line that he ended up on was with Byron and Lehkonen. Same line they used down the stretch when we had so many injuries.

If you can trust him for 13 and 16 min's against Tampa in the finals, he's ready for 3C IMO.

That game 4 went into OT where Evans played 1:55 which helped his overall time on ice. His time was also increased by his Pk time. Even strength he was averaging between 10 & 11 minutes per game in regulation time as a centre.

In the regular season this was the average even strength time on ice for the Habs centres:

Suzuki: 15:02
Danault: 14:15
KK: 12:53
Staal: 11:57
Evans: 9:56

We’ll see if Evans can take on extra minutes as the Habs third line centre. I think there is a good chance he can but we’ll see.

 

[jackeymoon]

It's so hard to judge with KK. He shows spurts where he can be a top 6 player. There were times this season where I thought he even looked better than Suzuki. Followed by other times where he looked like a 1st yr player.

His inconsistency is why I made the Eller comparison. Lars had a 4 goal game then didn't score for like 25 games lol

 

[JeffreyLFC]

How about you guys give Ryan Poehling a shot at 3C?

IMO that would be the smartest decision. If he succeed you have the position locked for many years or an incredible trading chip and if he fails well at least we will know what we have and can move on with another player.

 

[Habs10Habs]

His inconsistency is why I made the Eller comparison. Lars had a 4 goal game then didn't score for like 25 games lol

lol not a bad comparison. I lost track of how many times I thought "Wow, Eller is gonna be a star" followed by "Eller... "

 

[Schwang]

IMO that would be the smartest decision. If he succeed you have the position locked for many years or an incredible trading chip and if he fails well at least we will know what we have and can move on with another player.

No way they go with 4 centre's that young. No team would do that. I don't think Poehling is ready to be an nhl centre, nor do I think he's strong on faceoffs either. Just because he did fairly well in a very short ahl season against really bad teams doesn't mean he's ready for that role. If the habs had a solid 1,2 with an experienced #4 who can win faceoffs, then I could see giving him a try as the 3rd. But they don't.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Not that I'm positive he can't be trusted. One series is just too small of a time frame IMO to make such a decision. Which is why I want to add someone cheap like Bozak. If Evans proves he's ready. It's quite easy to give him the 3rd C. If not, Bozak is there until he is ready.

I think it's deeper than just one series of sample size. That was just one example of others as to why Evans is ready for a 3C role.

However, if we stay put and make no other changes, I have my concerns in the team success department. I feel we took a step back in the defensive category which is a concern cause that's exactly how we were able to go on that run. I feel we went backwards in defensive ability and added a little offense. That too me means we are average in both categories which leaves us in no mans land IMO

 

[Habs Halifax]

That game 4 went into OT where Evans played 1:55 which helped his overall time on ice. His time was also increased by his Pk time. Even strength he was averaging between 10 & 11 minutes per game in regulation time as a centre.

In the regular season this was the average even strength time on ice for the Habs centres:

Suzuki: 15:02
Danault: 14:15
KK: 12:53
Staal: 11:57
Evans: 9:56

We’ll see if Evans can take on extra minutes as the Habs third line centre. I think there is a good chance he can but we’ll see.

I think we both agree that we need more center insurance. I feel we all see it that way. But Evans is ready for 3C. I have more confidence in that than KK in a 2C role.

 

[MXD]

I thought the whole point of letting Danault go was to, you know, see what we had in Kotkaniemi, Evans and Poehling.

 

[Habs10Habs]

I think it's deeper than just one series of sample size. That was just one example of others as to why Evans is ready for a 3C role.

However, if we stay put and make no other changes, I have my concerns in the team success department. I feel we took a step back in the defensive category which is a concern cause that's exactly how we were able to go on that run. I feel we went backwards in defensive ability and added a little offense. That too me means we are average in both categories which leaves us in no mans land IMO

Oh you just named the Tampa series, so I went with that

Losing Danault is going to suck defensively. Even though I'm happy we didn't give him what he got in LA. We haven't replaced that, so I agree with what you're saying. Which is why I'd be looking to add a veteran C like Bozak. He's insurance for Evans and he also helps us in the face off circle. He's also not a long term fix, so he's not going to block Evans and Poehling. IMO, we can't stay as we are now.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

Dvorak is better on faceoffs percentage wise than Danault. How did he not go in the first round with ohl stats like that?

His draft year he only had 14 points in 33 games, the next years he played with Marner and Tkachuk and lit it up.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Oh you just named the Tampa series, so I went with that

Losing Danault is going to suck defensively. Even though I'm happy we didn't give him what he got in LA. We haven't replaced that, so I agree with what you're saying. Which is why I'd be looking to add a veteran C like Bozak. He's insurance for Evans and he also helps us in the face off circle. He's also not a long term fix, so he's not going to block Evans and Poehling. IMO, we can't stay as we are now.

I'm down with Bozak as long as he takes a 1 year deal at a low AAV. I have my doubts he choose the Habs in this case.